Ainashe.net

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs:

Acute malnutrition is a chronic emergency all over the country. Families who have been displaced for years due to the political conflict require urgent assistance. Pastoralists in some areas have lost half of their herds. In southern Somalia, historically the country’s breadbasket, production of staple foods (such as sorghum and maize) has fallen by up to 50 percent because of the protracted drought.

With a $3 million CERF allocation, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is treating acute malnutrition in displaced children under five and vulnerable host Populations by handing out Plumpy’doz (a compound of vegetable fat, peanut paste, sugar, skimmed milk powder, malto-dextrine, and complex vitamins and minerals) every two months at distribution sites. It is also providing emergency nutrition supplementary food and technical support to 122,000 children in the Shabelle and Bossaso IDP camps.

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Peter Heinlein of VOA writes:

Washington’s top diplomat on African issues says regional leaders must do more to ease simmering tensions in the Horn of Africa. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer made the comment after leading a team of senior U.S. officials on a tour of Ethiopia’s tense Ogaden region bordering Somalia.

I think the US Government is asking the wrong group of countries to get involved in the tragic Somali political conflict. Neither Kenya nor Ethiopia is an honest peace broker. These countries have strategic and security interests that can only be achieved by keeping Somalia weak and fragmented for many years to come. Hence, it is not only illogical but counter-productive to expect those countries to pull Somalia out of the current quagmire. The US Government should ask Arab and Islamic countries to assist Somalia!

Engaging the Egyptian and Saudi governments could be a good start!

Click here to view the full dispatch by Peter Heinlein.

According to the UN News Wire:

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Prime Minister of Norway, as his new Special Humanitarian Envoy for the Horn of Africa, in response to recurrent drought and food insecurity devastating the region. More than 40 per cent of the population are currently undernourished in the Horn, one of the most food-insecure regions in the world. The Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that severe drought is threatening the lives of an estimated 11 million people across Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti and Ethiopia. This compounds what is already a dire humanitarian situation in countries beset by years of high rates of malnutrition and morbidity, chronic food insecurity and the effects of conflict. 

Time permitting, I will write more about this later this week but suffice it to say that I believe that the appointment of Mr. Bondevik as a “Special Humanitarian Envoy” for the draught devastated Somalia and the rest of Horn of Africa is the only sign of hope the starving people have received thus far! I believe Mr. Bondevik will bring in positive political weight and influence that will certainly be beneficial to the starving Somalis. More importantly, his proven track record of humanitarianism and a genuine care for those who are crying for help will have far greater positive impact than any other candidate could have ever mastered. In Short, I am not a big fan of Kofi Annan, but I must say that he did the right thing this time by appointing Mr. Bondevik for this position. 

I say: Velkommen Herr Bondevik! 

Click here to view the appointment announcement by the UN.

According to the BBC News: 

A small community in wintry Norway wants to help a group of East African refugees back to work by importing a flock of camels. 

As someone who takes a great pride for being Norwegian “camel man” who happens to be originally from Somalia, I am quite excited to hear that camels are being brought to Norway. However, the camels we are talking here are NOT real camels; they are from Mongolia! 

Click here for the full story on the BBC News. 

It looks like, that President Abdullahi Yusuf and his Prime Minister; Ali Gedi has a good reason to smile big these days. Sharif Xasan and the destructive Mogadishu warlords finally decided to accept the hard political reality in Somalia and face their imminent demise!

As the Norwegian saying goes, he who laughs last, laughs best!

Following excerpts are taken from Mohamed Ali’s new memoir; “The Soul of a Butterfly”.

My mother once told me that my confidence in myself made her believe in me. I thought that was funny, because it was her confidence in me that strengthened my belief in myself. I didn’t realize it then, but from the very beginning, my parents were helping me build the foundation for my life.

Click here for more on this.

Can anyone beat the heavenly taste of the Norwegian “Geitost”-Goat Chees! I guess not. Well, I did indeed miss my home City of Oslo!

Picture: Courtesy of www.norway.org

For the last couple of weeks, I have been receiving loads of inflaming emails from angry Ainashe.net readers complaining about my failure (thus far) to publish my report regarding my recent trip to Somalia. Some of the readers were so angry that they gave me an ultimatum by saying that I should sit down, draft something and publish the final report on this page within weeks or else! Some even speculated that the reason why I did not complete that widely anticipated report is that I have been bribed to silence by Riyaale and his regional government cronies. Others have said that I was too lazy as any Somali or any African for that matter.

What can I say; I understand their frustration and anger!

I am sure many of those readers will find “I have been busy” as an insufficient excuse for my sluggish blogging schedule in recent weeks. However, I am quite certain those readers will be more sympathetic to me if they knew that I am currently baby-sitting my three month old daughter; Amina. As any infant, Amina needs twenty four hour attention and round the clock nursing and care. Indeed, I cannot take my eyes off her even when she is sleeping peacefully in her crib albeit the surveillance equipment monitoring every movement and every sound she makes! (more…)